The 25-year-old has been placed in quarantine as the Serie A club makes checks on those who have had contact with him.

Meanwhile ex-Italian PM Matteo Renzi sent an ominous warning, saying: "Today the red zone is Italy. But in 10 days it will be Madrid, Paris and Berlin."

Dramatic footage today showed police vehicles and a team of hazmat-clad civil protection workers patrolling the streets of the Italian town of Desenzano on Lake Garda, which would usually be bustling with tourists and locals.

A message from a loudspeaker said: "Fellow citizens, following the decree please do not leave your house unless absolutely necessary.

"If you go outside then you are risking the health of others and the infrastructure of the health system."

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The World Health Organisation today declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic, as eight people were confirmed to have died from the deadly bug in the UK.

WHO director-general Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said the number of cases of Covid-19 outside China has increased 13-fold in the past two weeks, and the number of affected countries has tripled.

He said individual countries could still change the course of the virus through their actions, but said: "In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of Covid-19 cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries, climb even higher.

"WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.

"We have therefore made the assessment that Covid-19 can be characterised as a pandemic."

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A man puts down tape to indicate a safe distance between people in open public placesCredit: Getty Images - Getty

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Markers on the ground indicate the safe distance between people at a market stall as part of control measures against the spread of the new COVID-19Credit: Getty Images - Getty

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People queue far from one another outside a supermarket on the second day of an unprecedented lockdown across all of the countryCredit: Reuters

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A deserted St. Mark's Square in Venice todayCredit: AFP or licensors

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Deserted streets during the coronavirus lockdown in RomeCredit: EPA

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Dramatic footage today showed police vehicles patrolling the streets of the Italian town of Desenzano on Lake Garda

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Police car drives around Desenzano del Garda, Italy giving a message from the town's mayor to stay indoors due to coronavirus